Thursday, March 20, 2008

More on Lifelock and Experian

I've been giving a lot of consideration to the lawsuit that has been submitted against Lifelock by Experian. The basis of the suit is that Experian is claiming that Lifelock doesn't have the legal right to place these "fraud alerts" on behalf of their consumers. They claim the individual has to do it themselves. What if I write a letter authorizing Lifelock to do this on my behalf?

But the basis of this lawsuit goes much deeper. It's about the cost to Experian and other credit bureaus that is driving the lawsuit. Once the fraud alerts are in place, they are required to generate free credit reports, I believe credit bureaus have to call the individual to confirm each time credit is applied for, etc.

But there is something that isn't being pointed out that I think should be pointed out. The people who suffer the most from identity theft are the individuals whos identity is being stolen. And the loss in measures of impact is much greater than they are to the creditors. The credit bureaus never had to feel this loss.

Now, the credit bureaus are feeling it. And they seem to believe their only recourse is to sue Lifelock instead of joining Lifelock's crusade to change the industry to make it more difficult for identity theft to occur. Maybe the credit bureaus need to call the credit card companies and tell them to stop mailing out so much crap. You know, if I need a credit card, I think I can figure out how to apply for one. I'm sick of shredding that stuff. Perhaps the credit bureaus should set up internal policies and procedures that require more inquiries whenever someone tries to set up credit to be sure that the person applying is who they say they are.

The credit bureaus up to this point could hold a neutral ground because they didn't have to feel anything. Well, now they feel it and they don't like it and it's putting them in the middle between the credit companies and the inidividual consumers. And they have decided to sell the consumer down the river by suing Lifelock than voice our concerns to the crediters.

5 comments:

SunWolf said...

I know what you mean about the ridiculous amount of junk mail these credit cards generate. I already have a Capital One card, but I get at least three (sometimes more) solicitations per week from Capital One alone. They waste everyone's money. They should be saving trees and lowering their interest rate instead. But you don't want me to get started on the credit industry.

Chris said...

There is never a change to the big corporations until there is financial incentive. With some luck and a few good judges, this will be the case and maybe the credit card companies will actually be forced to make those changes.

A Girl From Texas said...

Chris, I hope so. In my business, I meet so many people who are victicms.

A Girl From Texas said...

By the way, someone from Experian has been on my blog and read this post, I assume.

And another visitor from "Credit Check".... whatever that is....

Margo said...

I heard about Lifelock and have thought about becoming a member. Thanks for reminding me that I meant to do that!